The Irish Golf Club Gazette

8/30/2015

Spieth Shows Human Frailty

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Jordan Spieth has missed the cut at The Barclays and is set to lose his status as world number one to Rory McIlroy.

Spieth, who shot his worst score (74) for three months at Plainfield Country Club on Thursday, could only do marginally better with a second round 73 after hitting five bogies, a double bogey and four birdies.

His surprise struggles mean that McIlroy, currently recovering from an ankle injury, will return to the top of the tree despite not lifting a club this weekend as a precaution.

There were no such problems for Bubba Watson, who now has a one-shot lead over the rest of the field after sharing a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard following day one.

The American hit a sublime five-under 65 in the first round and backed it up with a solid 68 on Friday to nudge in front on seven under overall.

Colombia's Camilo Villegas and Americans Spencer Levin and Tony Finau had a share of the lead going into day two, but they all struggled to maintain that pace.

Finau is the highest-placed out of that trio, but a bogey on the 16th scuppered his hopes of staying toe-to-toe with Watson and he sits one shot back in a four-strong cluster on six under.

There he is joined by Sweden's Henrik Stenson, who shot five birdies on the first 12 holes to push up the leaderboard, Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner.

Villegas is just behind on five under - where he is joined by Jason Bohn after the American hit six birdies in a blemish-free round to card the lowest score of the day (64).

Levin, meanwhile, is one of seven men on four under after hitting one-over par on Friday.

Spieth admitted he would need some time to work out where his week had gone wrong.

"Yeah, tough week," he said on the PGA Tour website. "I'm definitely searching for answers. I don't know exactly what I'm going to do from here as far as how I get prepared for next week but I have some time to figure it out. We don't start till Friday."

Despite the disappointment, Spieth, who remains top of the FedExCup rankings, swiftly turned his attention to the Deutsche Bank Championship as he downplayed the importance of the ranking.

"I've reached that peak already and I know it's going to be close enough to where if I just get the job done next week, I'll be back in that ranking," he said. "But again, that ranking, it's great once you reach it but it's not something that I'm going to live or die on each week. It doesn't really make much of a difference. If you go on a three- or four-year cycle, Rory is No. 1 in the world. If you go just base off of this year, I am. They just use two years.

"In my mind, it's just about trying to win the FedExCup at this point."

8/17/2015

McIlroy Happy With Comeback

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Rory McIlroy was pleased with his comeback at the US PGA Championship despite not being able to defend his title at Whistling Straits.

Coming into the tournament, the 26 year old had not played a competitive round since a closing 66 at the US Open Championship at Chambers Bay after suffering ankle ligament damage whilst playing football with friends in early July.

But he finished 17th in Wisconsin after rounds of 71-71-68-69 and is confident he will be back to his best soon.

"I feel like I did well," he said "Obviously coming back after the lay-off, not hitting a competitive shot in two months, shooting nine under was a decent effort.

"I didn't see 19 under winning this week. I thought something between ten and 15 but it just shows you how high the standard is these days.

"But first week, coming back, I thought I did pretty well."

He added: "The ankle is fine. We came up with a plan that after this week I could take a couple of weeks off just in case anything did happen or there were any setbacks.

"It feels fine, but I'm just going to take a couple of weeks off and not need a strap or anything to play. And then after that I've got another week off, so by the time I'm in the middle of September, there will be no issues and hopefully I can give it a good run in the FedEx Cup.

"I felt like I gave it a good run this week and the ankle is in good shape.

"Overnight the ankle did swell a bit, but once I got it moving and compressed it a bit, it was fine. It probably won't look like a normal ankle for two or three months, but there is no pain in it, which is the main thing."

The Northern Irishman began his round on Sunday with five pars but made a sensational up and down from the rough to make birdie on the sixth and followed that with another on the seventh.

Another gain was made on the tenth and, despite dropping a shot on the 13th, McIlroy picked up another on the 16th and feels his game will come back together as he plays more often.

"I just need to sharpen up," he said. "I feel like ball striking-wise, tee to green, it's there. And it's sort of been there all year. If anything, just around the greens (I've got to be) being more efficient, really. When I give myself opportunities inside, wedges in my hand, I've got to take advantage of those.

"And today is a prime example, it's my fourth day of competitive playing, getting those two balls up and down on 17 and 18, that's something just playing a bit more and just having experience with certain shots and certain lies.

"That all just comes with playing a bit more."

Spieth Second Tops World

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Jordan Spieth was still smiling after his second place finish in the 97th PGA Championship as it saw him take Rory McIlroy's place as world No 1.

Spieth concluded his remarkable season in the major championships by finishing three shots behind Jason Day at Whistling Straits, but that result was enough to lift him to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking.

The 22-year-old won the Masters and US Open before finishing in a tie for fourth in the 144th Open at St Andrews, where his dreams of a Grand Slam finally came to an end.

Asked by Sky Sports' Rich Beem if the No 1 spot was a nice consolation prize, Spieth said: "Sure it is. That's as good of a consolation prize as I have ever had.

"I'm really pleased. It was not easy to get out there and try to dethrone Rory, and it's going to be even harder to try and stay on top.

"But this year, the way we have played I think we've earned it as a team and we are going to work our butts off to stay in this position."

Spieth started the day two behind Day but could never quite get close enough to put pressure on the Australian, who was winning his first major championship after a number of near misses.

A dropped shot at the ninth proved particularly costly and Spieth said that was the key part of the round where he should really have been making up ground.

He added: "The middle of the round, really eight through 12, I had a really good opportunity to shoot three-under and I played those holes even par.

"That was killer because at that point I would have got it to about square and it would have been a different story coming down the stretch.

"But it was Jason's day today and he really didn't miss many shots, and when he did it ended in a good spot and he made plenty of putts."

8/16/2015

Can Rory Break Records

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Rory McIlroy requires a record nine-shot recovery to win the 97th edition at Whistling Straits and overcome Jason Day heading who leads into the final day.

5. Bob Tway

Greg Norman held the lead going into the final round of every major championship in 1986, and the PGA Championship at the Inverness Club was no exception.

But the Australian was usurped in Ohio by Bob Tway, who overturned a four-stroke deficit to clinch his only major title, before later being named PGA Player of the Year.

Tway's comeback began with Norman's double-bogey at the 11th, and ended by holing from a bunker at the last to win by two shots.

4. Keegan Bradley

Despite trailing by just a single stroke at the start of the final round, Bradley found himself five shots off the lead with three holes remaining.

A gain at 16 followed by a 35-foot birdie on the 17th, coupled with three consecutive bogeys by Jason Dufner, forced a play-off between the Americans at the Atlanta Athletic Club in 2011.

Bradley wasted no time in the three-hole showdown, triumphing by one-shot after a birdie at the first. "I can't believe it, I feel so proud," the 25-year-old said afterwards - and rightly so.

3. Bob Rosburg

Bob Rosburg trailed Jerry Barber by six shots going into the final round at the Minneapolis Golf Club in 1959.

Despite Rosburg carding the best round of the final day with 66, Barber still looked in control with three holes to play.

Three pars would have been enough for Barber, but two bogeys meant he ended the tournament one stroke behind Rosburg.

2. Steve Elkington

Ernie Els set a three-day record at the PGA Championship in 1995 with 197, but was unable to prevent Steve Elkington from lifting the Wanamaker Trophy on the final day.

Elkington fired a final-day 64, which remains the greatest closing round by a PGA champion to date, and he was joined in a play-off by Colin Montgomerie when the Scot holed an 18-foot birdie at the last.

As if Elkington's 64 wasn’t enough, he buried a 25-foot putt for birdie on the first extra hole for victory.

1. John Mahaffey

Mahaffey's seven-shot comeback in 1978 remains the greatest in the history of the PGA Championship.

Tom Watson offered a helping hand, struggling to a final-round 73, while Mahaffey ripped through the course with a stunning 66.

A four-foot miss by Jerry Pate at the last forced a play-off, which Mahaffey won with a birdie on the second to avenge his 18-hole play-off defeat at The Open three years earlier.

Rory Retains Whistling Chance

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Rory McIlroy was frustrated at being unable to build on a "dream start" to his third round at the 97th PGA Championship, as his lengthy injury lay-off caught up with him at Whistling Straits.

The defending champion was nine shots off the lead at the halfway stage following a pair of erratic 71s, but he made early strides up the leaderboard when he birdied the second and fourth and then holed a monster 65-foot putt for eagle at the fifth.

But a poor wedge cost him a shot at the next, and he also bogeyed the eighth before mixing four birdies with two further shots on the inward half to post a 68 - six under for the tournament.

McIlroy will have to break the tournament comeback record if he is to retain his title on Sunday, and he admitted his lack of competitive golf while recovering from ankle ligament damage over the last seven weeks had hampered his chances.

"I got off to a dream start, really," said McIlroy, who had not played since the US Open in June after suffering his ankle injury playing football with friends on July 4. "To be four under through five, having not birdied the first and third, was a bonus.

"I knew six was a chance and the way the wind was on seven and eight, they weren't playing as tough as they had been earlier in the week. If you get a good tee shot down on nine, you've got a wedge in your hand there and all of a sudden you're thinking about shooting 30 on the front nine and then you've got some chances on the back nine.

"But to give those shots away again on six and eight, you really have to battle to shoot four under in the end. I guess that probably shows just a lack of competitiveness considering this is the first week back in a few weeks.

"But really positive signs out there. Hitting the ball great. I putted much better today thankfully. So if I keep showing improvement each and every day like I have done, it's a good sign going into the rest of the season."

The 26-year-old conceded that his chances of lifting the Wanamaker Trophy for the third time were remote, but he is refusing to hand over his title without a fight.

"It's all about setting a realistic goal and target," McIlroy added. "I know that the way the back nine's playing there, the leaders could be 14, 15 under by the time the day ends. So, that would leave me eight or nine shots back.

"In the back of your mind, you still think you have a chance, because that's what your competitive nature tells you. But if you're looking at it realistically, I want to go out there tomorrow and shoot the best score that I've shot this week.

"I've stood still a little on Thursday and Friday, but definitely improved today and you want to improve on that again tomorrow. If I do that, I think that, as a whole, the week would be somewhat of a success. It wouldn't be quite what I wanted, but as I said, I can take positives from it and move on."

8/30/2015

Spieth Shows Human Frailty

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